Fun Discoveries I've Made About Color
*I've decided to call these findings discoveries, not facts, as they only pertain to the results of my limited data and research.
Most Popular Color: Blue
Least Popular Color: Brown
Opposites Attract (Or Not?)
A majority people who favored one side of the color wheel (i.e. cool vs. warm, red vs. blue, etc.) tended to dislike the opposite side. The only exceptions were when people liked complementary colors or opposite colors that paired particularly well together (i.e. pastel blue and pink). People who liked soft, light shades also tended to dislike colors that were strong, loud, or neon.
Color Makes Up Our Everyday Decisions
It's easy to miss how significant of a role color plays in our lives because it's found in such small, insignificant and daily decisions. But it's there. You consider color when you choose your outfit in the morning. When you look at old food in the fridge and decide whether it's
Color Has History
Color associations and symbolism have existed for as long as mankind has used pigments. Some colors like red and purple, which we associate with power and royalty, have always held the meanings they hold today. Blue, on the other hand, a very popular modern day color, has not been held in esteem since recent centuries. Different cultures also hold different meanings for certain colors.
Color Has Cost
Some color pigments are far more rare and difficult to make than others. Before artificial coloring became widely available, this made certain colors hold more value than others. But colors have also cost us a price beyond money; hungry for color, we have risked illness and even death to use pigments that ended up being toxic for our bodies. Colors like lead white and Scheele's Green have led people to die of lead and arsenic poisoning.
Colors Go In And Out of Style
As fashion trends and color symbolisms change over the centuries, different colors have gone in and out of style with society. Wealthier upper-class society usually has the hold on the latest color trends.
All Color Once Originated From Nature
A seemingly obvious fact, but easy to forget when we're saturated by so many artificial colors and dyes in the modern century. Paints and pigments used by artists and decorators for millennials have all originally come from natural sources like flowers, bugs, and plants. Even now, some colors found in our everyday lives like makeup products and writing utensils come from natural sources like beetles for cochineal red.
Color Is A Playground For Power
Battles have been fought since color has pervaded human society over who gets to wear which color. Wealthy and upper class society ruled over colors like red and purple for centuries, marking these shades of regality and luxury as their own. Common people were limited to wearing drab, dull browns and neutrals. Now, with the rise of minimalism in contemporary fashion, neutrals may have a higher place in society. It is still true, however, that high society (more specifically, the mass global fashion industry run by luxury designers) determines what colors belong in which social stratosphere, which colors are "in" and "out". Color has been used for centuries to indicate both class and level of wealth in cultures across the world.